Monday, April 29, 2019

Don't bring your hate down here

Recently some people from Philadelphia decided that the best way to spend their day would be to come to Towson University, here in the formerly sleepy town of Towson outside Baltimore.

They weren't here to see the sights of Towson: Hampton Mansion, now a National Park, the old county jail where Saturday crowds would gather in the 19th Century to see a good old fashioned execution by hanging, Divine's grave, none of that.

They came to Towson U to march around with signs that promised "hellfire" to people they don't like, such as gay people, Muslim people, the usual blah blah.

Five of these oddballs took it upon themselves to strut around with their hate-filled placards, calling students homophobic and racist slurs, and then a wonderful thing happened in response.

The outside agitators from the Key of David Christian Center, a church north of Philadelphia, determined that they had the right to remain on school property because it is in fact public property.

So as University Police ringed a barrier around the addlepated protestors, a much much larger group of students took advantage of their right to assemble peaceably and drowned out the hatred with love and peace and go back to Philadelphia.

Towson University president Kim Schatzel said the group of demonstrators label themselves the “Bible Believers” and traveled to Towson to “use public space to spread their racist, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, anti-woman messages.”

She continued: “While Towson University recognizes this group’s right to free speech under the constitution and its legal right to occupy designated public use space on our campus, their messages are at odds with our relentless effort toward a more diverse and inclusive campus that supports every TU community member to thrive, regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation or levels of ableness.

A newspaper reporter approached one of the gozzleheads with a question, but received this as an answer: a sweatshirt with the words “Fear God and give glory to him,” and this statement: “I’m just giving life to Jesus.”

A spokesperson for Jesus assured us that He and all of us have abundant life, made all the richer by not trying to make other people feel ashamed or lesser.